Tie between building elements



F. W. SIGL TIE BETWEEN BUILDING ELEMENTS A ril 18, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 20, 1963 rmsomcn w. SIGL INVENTOR W 9. MAGENT April 18, 1967 F. w. SIGL 3,314,207

TIE BETWEEN BUILDING ELEMENTS Filed Sept. 20, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FRIEDRICH W. SIGL INVENTOR April 18, 1967 F. w. SIGL TIE BETWEEN BUILDING ELEMENTS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 20, 1963 FRIEDRICH w. SIGL INVENTOR AGENT nite States free 3,314,207 TIE BETWEEN BUILDING ELEMENTS Friedrich W. Sigl, Salzhurg, Austria, assignor to Beton- Box A.G., Saint Gall, Switzerland, a corporation of Switzerland Filed Sept. 20, 1963, Ser. No. 310,434 Claims priority, application Austria, Sept. 20, 1962, A 7,463/62 4 Claims. (Cl. 52428) This invention relates to a building element which comprises two spaced-apart facings consisting, for instance, of lightweight building plates or slabs composed of woodfiber (e.g., woodfiber-filled concrete) or the like and in which the space between the two facings is to be filled with a substance capable of hardening. Formwork elements consisting of woodfiber-filled concrete and serving as concrete facings are known; such units may have transverse webs and/ or end walls. These connecting elements between the two plates prevent the formation of a monolithic wall structure by the hardening core material introduced between the plates.

There have been various attempts to join plates of woodfiber-filled concrete to webs of heavyweight concrete and/ or clips in such a manner that the filling of the intervening space with concrete results in a monolithic wall structure. Satisfactory solutions, however, have not been found. For instance, it has been proposed to use webs of heavyweight concrete. In this case, however, the bond between these webs and the plates was insufficient, so that the building elements disintegrated or bulged during the filling of the core with the concrete.

According to another suggestion the plates were connected to each other by means of wires, which extended through the building plates and were reversely bent on the outside of the plates. This connection between the two plates had the disadvantage that the portions of the wires disposed inside the building plates were subject to chemical action by the plates (e.g., to the action of calcium chloride), so that these portions of the wires were eaten away. Besides, the reversely bent ends disposed on the outside of the wall tended to rust easily and caused damage to the facing. This cannot be simply remedied by galvanizing the wires because of the increase in costs involved. These costs were high in any case because the introduction of the wires into the bores in the plates and the reverse bending of the wires was a difiicult and timeconsuming work. Another disadvantage resided in that the wires extending through the plates were cold conductors and, further, in that it was difficult to level the horizontal bearing surfaces of the building elements provided with the wires.

Finally, it has been proposed to use bent spacers of steel, which were embedded in the plates. These bent spacers were subject to corrosion and their incorporation in the plates was also difficult and time-consuming. The incorporation of the bent spacers into prefabricated plates was not possible at all.

According to the invention, all these disadvantages of the known structures are avoided in that in a building element comprising two generally coextensive parallel slabsor facings, which are spaced apart by webs, bent members, baskets or like spacers connected to the facings; the ends of the spacers are rigidly connected to the facings by means of small heaps, pads or ledges of cement or the like but do not penetrate into or extend through the facings.

A particularly good connection of the spacers to the facings can be obtained if the ends of the spacers are bent to extend parallel to the associated surfaces of the facings. It is also suitable to use material known under the name bi-Stahl (bi-steel) for the webs, bent members, baskets or like spacers. This material consists of two relatively closely spaced round steel bars, which are rigidly connected by spaced-apart crosspieces also consisting of round steel bars so that a ladderlike structure is obtained. The use of such spacers enables an unhindered spreading of the hardenable filler substance throughout the interslab space so that a genuine monolith is obtained.

The spacers according to the invention may be used in various types of building elements, including those comprising two identical facings or the like or those comprising two different facings. For instance, the external facing may consist of a lightweight building plate or a plate of woodfiber-filled concrete and the internal facing may consist of a support for plaster, for instance of a wire mesh. Such building elements have a sufiicient heat insulation on the outside and have on the inside an insulation value which is as low as possible to provide for a uniform room temperature and a healthy living climate. The monolithic core tends to equalize the temperature and to store heat.

Instead of two plates, supports for a plaster, which supports may consist, for instance, of wire meshing, may be used on the inside and on the outside. This results in building elements for sound-damping partitions.

Embodiments of building elements according to the invention are diagrammatically shown by way of example in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, are a perspective view, a vertical sectional view and a horizontal sectional view showing a formwork element of facing concrete;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view showing a formwork element which provides for an insulation on the outside;

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view showing this element on a larger scale; and

FIGS. 6 and 7, respectively, are horizontal and vertical sectional views showing a building element for sounddamping partitions on a larger scale.

The formwork element shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 comprises two facings 1 and 1', which consist of lightweight building plates or of woodfiber-filled concrete and which are spaced apart by bent steel ladders 3. The steel ladders consist of two relatively closely spaced round steel bars 4, which are rigidly connected by a plurality of spaced-apart crosspieces 5 consisting also of round steel bars. The bent ladders 3 are secured to the facings 1 and 1 by small heaps or pads 6 of cement.

The ladder-shaped spacers or tie members 3 are in the form of fiat loops each constituted by a pair of generally rectangular frames, i.e., the elements 4, whose interconnecting crossbars 5 are welded thereto as seen in FIG. 3. Owing to the fact that each member 3 has a pair of flat sides which are parallel to the confronting surfaces of plates 1, 1' and rest against these surfaces, the framework 1, 1', 3 constitutes a deformation-resisting structure even before the introduction of a concrete filling and without regard to the shear resistance of the bonding material 6.

The bent spacers may be replaced by webs, baskets or the like and the steel ladders may be replaced by structural steel elements or the like. However, the embodiment shown is particularly suitable. Such building elements are handy and permit of vibrating the core concrete 9 (FIGS. 4 to 7) to obtain a filler having a desirably high quality without risk of causing damage to the building elements. Hence, these building elements are particularly suited for a monolithic structure.

The building element shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 differs from that of FIGS. 1 to 3 in that the internal facing does not consist of a lightweight building plate or of woodfiber-filled concrete but of a support 7 for plaster. This support may consist, e.g., of wire mesh. In this embodiment the bent spacers 3 are secured with cement ledges 8 to the external lightweight building plate 1 and to the internal support 7 for plaster.

The use of this building element results in numerous advantages over the known method of construction. In the latter, the heat-insulating effect of the external wall structure is obtained either by an inside facing consisting of heat-flow-retarding plates or by the use of external and internal insulating formwork bricks consisting of woodfiber-filled concrete or the like. Neither kind of insulation, however, provides for a desirable heat-transfer impeding eifect because in the first-mentioned case the heat barrier should properly be constituted by the outside of the wall structure and in the second case the external insulation is proper but the internal insulation prevents an equalization of temperature and storage of heat by the external wall structure. The building element according to the invention results in a suitable heat-fiow-retarding effect including a sufiicient heat insulation on the outside of the wall structure and only a small insulation effect on the inside so that a uniform room temperature and a healthy living climate will be achieved.

A building element for sound-damping partitions is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 and comprises two supports 7 and 7 for plaster, which supports consist, e.g., of wire mesh and are connected by the bent spacers 3 or the like, which are secured by cement ledges 8 to the two supports 7 and 7' for plaster. The use of these building elements enables an excellent sound damping if the space between the facings is filled up with a substance 9 capable of hardening, such as concrete. The sound-damping effect is known to be proportional to the weight of the masonry. This means that the sounddamping effect increases with the specific gravity. For this reason, a partition consisting entirely of solid concrete would be most suitable. Such a partition cannot be provided, however, in most cases owing to the large expenditure of time and high costs involved in the provision of the formwork.

Various modifications may be conceived Without departing from the scope of the invention. This applies particularly to the cross-sectiona1 shape and the material of the spacers or the like and to the materials used for the various facings.

What is claimed is:

1. A construction element forming a framework to be filled with a hardenable substance, comprising a pair of generally parallel and coexistence spaced-apart plates; a plurality of mutually parallel looped tie members extending across said pates at longitudinally spaced locations, each of said tie members being constituted by a pair of coextensive metal frames interconnected by peripherally spaced crossbars welded thereto, said frames lying in planes transverse to said plates with a mutual separation less than that existing between said tie members, the latter having fiat sides extending parallel to and resting against confronting surfaces of said plates; and masses of a hardened cementitious material deposited on said confronting surfaces and rigidly bonding said tie members to said plates.

2. A construction element as defined in claim 1 wherein at least one of said plates is a light-weight slab comprising woodfibers.

3. A construction element as defined in claim 1 wherein at least one of said plates is constituted as a plasterreceiving lath.

4. A construction element as defined in claim 1 wherein one of said plates is a light-weight concrete slab and the other of said plates is a plaster-receiving wire lath.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 751,346 2/1904 Schall 52-351 1,661,044 2/1928 Lawrence 52565 1,675,093 6/1928 Conley 52-351 1,842,348 1/1932 Garrett 52383 1,890,532 12/1932 Skolnik 52-563 2,647,392 8/1953 Wilson 52565 2,828,235 3/1958 Holland et al. 52604 FOREIGN PATENTS 529,780 7/1954 Belgium.

22,415 2/1909 Great Britain.

565,882 12/1944 Great Britain.

953,340 5/1949 France.

462,648 3/1951 Italy.

328,337 4/1958 Switzerland.

FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

RICHARD W. COOKE, JR, Examiner.

J. L. RIDGILL, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A CONSTRUCTION ELEMENT FORMING A FRAMEWORK TO BE FILLED WITH A HARDENABLE SUBSTANCE, COMPRISING A PAIR OF GENERALLY PARALLEL AND COEXISTENCE SPACED-APART PLATES; A PLURALITY OF MUTUALLY PARALLEL LOOPED TIE MEMBERS EXTENDING ACROSS SAID PATES AT LONGITUDINALLY SPACED LOCATIONS, EACH OF SAID TIE MEMBERS BEING CONSITUTED BY A PAIR OF COEXTENSIVE METAL FRAMES INTERCONNECTED BY PERIPHERALLY SPACED CROSSBARS WELDED THERETO, SAID FRAMES LYING IN PLANES TRANSVERSE TO SAID PLATES WITH A MUTUAL SEPARATION LESS THAN THAT EXISTING BETWEEN SAID TIE MEMBERS, THE LATTER HAVING FLAT SIDES EXTENDING PARALLEL TO AND RESTING AGAINST CONFRONTING SURFACES OF SAID PLATES; AND MASSES OF A HARDENED CEMENTITIOUS MATERIAL DEPOSITED ON SAID CONFRONTING SURFACES AND RIGIDLY BONDING SAID TIE MEMBERS TO SAID PLATES. 